Tory U-turn for breakfast as Crispin Blunt apologises for defending convicted sex offender MP Imran Khan April 12, 2022 Tory MP Crispin Blunt removed a post from his website and Twitter feed in which he had claimed Khan was the victim of a “dreadful miscarriage of justice”, after his fellow MP Imran Ahmad Khan, the MP for Wakefield, was found guilty on Monday of sexually assaulting a 15-year-old boy in 2008. The former justice [...]
Macron and Le Pen rematch over France’s global voice: in the choir or a monologue April 12, 2022 As Emmanuel Macron and Marine Le Pen prepare to face off in the final round of France’s presidential election, most French voters (like voters anywhere) will probably be thinking more about their own economic situation than events in other countries. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine may still be in the headlines, but after a month it [...]
150-year-old Hackney church to be turned into workspaces April 11, 2022 The 150-year-old St Michael & All Angels Church in Hackney is to be turned into workspaces, as London’s offices fall further away from tradition post-pandemic. Boutique developer Aitch Group and property investor VFund have entered a joint venture to restore and develop the Grade I listed building, which is one of just six left [...]
Blend secures £120m boost for lending extra ‘muscle’ to UK property developers April 11, 2022 Property capital firm Blend Network has secured a record £120m boost to its lending of that extra “muscle” for UK developers. Blend, backed by OakNorth Bank chairman and former Barclays vice chairman Cyrus Ardalan, snagged the sum from a consortium of six large family offices “Obtaining a record £120m committed funding line from such a [...]
Panic in China’s richest city as 25m residents of Covid-ridden Shanghai run out of food in world’s strictest lockdown April 8, 2022 Frustration, panic and anger is growing in Shanghai as millions of residents are struggling to get their hands on meat, rice and other food supplies while the government tries to contain a spreading Covid outbreak with anti-coronavirus controls that confine most of its 25m people to their homes, People in China’s business capital have complained [...]
Workers to stage walkouts over ‘dismal’ pay offers April 8, 2022 Thousands of UK workers are set to stage walkouts over the next few days over below-inflation pay offers. The Communication Workers Union (CWU) yesterday rejected BT’s 5 per cent pay rise – the highest in more than 20 years – calling it a “nothing short of an insult,” the Times first reported. “We have no [...]
Fireblocks poaches Bank of England fintech lead April 7, 2022 The head of the Bank of England's fintech hub has walked out after just over a year in the role to join crypto startup Fireblocks.
Workspace posts slow but steady recovery amid hybrid office return April 7, 2022 Workspace Group makes a bounce back, with like-for-like occupancy for office space up three per cent thanks to SMEs demand.
Closing the autism employment gap means success for businesses up and down the country April 6, 2022 Tracy Clements is an English and Drama teacher. An avid traveller, she’s married with two kids and she’s on the autism spectrum. She’s in a safe job she likes, but she’s almost an exception. Only 22 per cent of autistic adults were employed in the UK in 2020 – but one in ten people across [...]
EU considers offering asylum to Russian soldiers if they desert Ukraine amid claims Kremlin is using hunger as a weapon April 6, 2022 European Council president Charles Michel said EU countries should think about ways to offer asylum to Russian soldiers willing to desert Ukraine battlefields. During an address to the the European Parliament, Michel expressed his “outrage at crimes against humanity, against innocent civilians in Bucha and in many other cities”, and called on Russian soldiers to [...]